Back on Track

I realized it has been a little bit too long since I have recorded what is going on in our little family. I passed all my classes last semester. On the day of my last final I sang in a program called Lucia. It is a Swedish tradition. One of the clinicians is originally from Sweden and she organizes this choir every year. Shannon has sung in this choir every year at school and this year she was Lucia. Lucia wears candles on her head and the rest of us each hold a single candle. It was a lot of fun! The choir was made up of vet students, WSU CVM staff members, clinicians, and spouses of CVM employees. We sang some traditional songs, some Swedish songs, and a few contemporary Christmas songs. There was quite an arrangement of accompanying instruments- recorders, keyboard, guitar, base guitar, drums, flute, and an accordion! Afterwards, refreshments were served.

For the rest of the week, I spent time in the Large Animal Barn. I was given the opportunity to give injections, listen to the heart rate of different species, trim a dairy cow hoof, take a trip out to the WSU dairy, and witness physical therapy on a goat! Randy's last week of work was the following week.  On December 14, 2012 Randy's grandfather Merle Stratton passed away. He is a great man and he is missed, but we are glad that he is no longer in pain. On the following Saturday- Randy, Mitch, Shannon, G-dog, and I loaded up and went to Spokane for Christmas. I'm sure Mitch got the most presents out of everyone-spoiled dog! Two days after Christmas, Randy and I flew to Utah to spend about a week with my family. It was wonderful to be able to spend time with my siblings. On New Year's Eve most of my mom's family went to Aunt Kamie's new house for a celebration. It was freezing outside but a bunch of the cousins swam in the heated pool. One of my best friends Maria Warwood came with Randy and I and did a session at the Bountiful temple. I sure do love that temple. Maria and I were able to take a peak into the beautiful Bride's room. It brought back a flood of memories. This is the room I got ready on my wedding day. Later that week both of my parents and Randy and I did a session in the Salt Lake Temple. That is the temple where my parents were married, however they have never done a session there. It was a marvelous expereince. I think the last time I was able to complete a session with both my parents was the day I took out my endowments.

All too soon we had to come back to real-life without a dishwasher and tons of laundry. This semester started on the 7th of January. I am still loving Vet school! The line up of required courses for this semester are - pathology, physiology, nutrition, large animal anatomy, immunology, and neurobiology/anatomy. For electives I am taking equine neonatal, Ag seminar (again), and complementary and alternative medicine. Yesterday I attended at 5 hour seminar for the complementary and alternative medicine course. The focus was on Chinese Medicine with an emphasis on acupuncture. The presentation was well done and I have a better understand of patterns associated with Chinese Medicine. Earlier this month, a classmate of mine and I went to Ellensburg, WA to learn about calving. This was an amazing experience. We went to Trinity Farms, an operation that produces breeding stock of angus, Simmental, and angus Simmental crosses. The owners were extremely kind to us and gave us access to all the animals. We spent most of our time wandering out into pastures to watch for signs of labor. On Sunday afternoon, my goal of seeing a calf born was completed. We also helped place ear tags and give vaccinations to day old calves. This month I am going to Oregon to do breeding soundness exams on bulls.

Randy is looking for a job. He had two interviews last week. Both jobs will be working with grouse, but one is in Idaho and the other in Colorado (the same location he worked 2 summers ago). We will hear back sometime this week. We are really hoping that the sage grouse graduate position will work out. I really want Randy to get one of these jobs, but I wish they weren't so far away. I am trying to find   ways to fill my summer since I am not planning on him being here with me. One thing I do have planned for the summer is a rotation in the large animal barn. During the summer, there are not any 4th year rotations going on in the large animal barn. That way first year vet students can gain some experience. The first years do pretty much everything the 4th years would do from giving treatments to filling out paperwork. Each rotation lasts about 3-4 weeks. I am quite excited!

Mitch is sad that he doesn't get to come to school with me, but besides that he is doing well. Randy is kept busy looking for jobs and fixing things that go wrong around the house. I don't know what I am going to do when he is gone. Its a good thing I will have Mitch around to keep me company. Randy and I are still serving in one of the nurseries at church. A slightly difference arrangement has been made and will allow Randy to go to Priesthood and me to Relief Society almost every other week. I enjoy working with the children, but it is nice to get to know some of the ladies in our ward. We celebrated Randy's birthday the Saturday afterwards. Shannon, Bryan, Jessica, Becky, Randy, and I went out to dinner at Sellas, a local Italian restaurant. Afterwards we came back here for cake, played games, and laughed a lot.

I am grateful for our home, for my education opportunities, for Mitch, for my amazing husband who takes such good care of me and helps me make my dreams come true, but most of all for my testimony of my Savior Jesus Christ and my Heavenly Father. I know that they are aware of my needs, and that they love me.